(UGH, the first time I wrote out this review it didn't save.)

Four and a half stars. This was so moving and beautiful. I read a few reviews that complained the protagonist and narrator, Tally, was too hard to empathize with because she's so analytical, but I never felt even a hint of that. I loved the whole story. (Also, the cover is gorgeous.)

Even readers who don't know a thing about astronomy (like myself) or Greek myths (not like myself) will be able to follow the story. It'll be difficult to see where the plot is going, but seriously, just trust the author because she'll get you through it in one piece.

Overall: this is an excellent read that hit all my happy buttons--friendship, growing up, stumbling around and trying to figure out Emotions while being utterly mortified by them, Greek myths, weird small towns where mystical things start to happen, and an utter lack of angst over the main character's bisexuality. I received my copy for free at Y'All West (May 2016), but having finished the book, I would say it is absolutely worth whatever you have to pay to get your hands on a copy. ( )

While I hate to classify anything as 'literary', About a Girl certainly is. Tally never knew her parents. She's been brought up by her mother's best friend, Aunt Beast. Helping were Raoul and his boyfriend Henri. It was a family, although not biologically related.

However, she always wondered about the mother who gave her away and the father she never knew. Shown a newspaper clipping of her mother with a now reclusive musician, Jack Blake, Tally wonders whether Jack is her father and decides to fly to the opposite coast to confront him. Spontaneous is not a word the is typically used to describe Tally, so this is totally out of character.

What she finds on the west coast is totally not what she expected from so many points of view.

About a Girl is a lyrical book filled with mysticism, mythology,astronomy and constellations. Will Tally return to her family the same girl that left it? That's a hard one to answer. Her journey, her quest, to find the truth will lead her in many strange directions, will cause her to meet my mystical, magical people and possibly change her points of view.

About a Girl is the third book in McCarry's third book in her Metamorphosis series but it can be read as a standalone book. It is a most enjoyable book and the picture on the cover gives no hints as to the contents within. A better cover, one that aligns with the protagonists, might have been a wiser move. However, skip the cover and go straight to the contents. It's most worthwhile. ( )

This book tells the story of Tally, who at age 18, seems confident that her life will turn out just as she had planned - summer spent with her best friend, Shane; head to college; become an astronomer... But when Tally starts wondering about her past, she finds herself on a quest to learn more about mother and father, and her neatly ordered life is quickly turned upside down.

This is third book in the Metamorphoses trilogy - Tally, we learn, is the daughter of Aurora, whom Aurora left on her best friend's (now termed "Aunt Beast") doorstep to raise, along with Aunt Beast's best friend, Raoul and his husband, Henri. (All characters easily recognizable if you've read the first two books.)

Needless to say, this is an interesting book. I actually really liked Tally. She's different from Aurora and Maia and even Cass. Tally finds relief in the order of planets and stars. She is a good kid, overall, with a pretty common upbringing, despite the fact it was by her "Aunt" and her friends.

However, when Tally is shown a picture of Jack (and Aurora) and sent off to the West Coast by the shadowy Mr. M - whom she just knows as her friendly neighbor - everything changes. She finds herself sucked into the strangeness of the town where Jack lives, where she can't remember things and time just slips away. As always, the "weirdness" in McCarry's writing comes out, and I'm always not 100% sure I'm following things correctly. I won't spoil the book, but I can point out that Tally meets Maddy there, for whom she falls for deeply.

I probably liked this book the best of the three - I rooted for Tally, and I loved that this book featured a transgender character (Tally's friend Shane) and a lesbian relationship (between Tally and Maddy). Great to see that thrown into a YA book without it truly being the focus of anything. As always, the mystical side of McCarry's novel threw me a bit, but I found it less disconcerting in this one than the previous two, for some reason. While I would have loved more resolution to the story of everyone, this book did seem a fairly fitting bookend to the tales McCarry has woven for these characters.

(Note: I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.) ( )

The third and final book in this trilogy. I didn't realize this was a trilogy when I requested it from the publisher through netgalley, so when I found out I wanted to hurry up and get to the first books in the series before reviewing this one. I listened to the other books on Audio and the narrator Renata Freedman's voice was hypnotic and I found myself hearing her voice as I read this one on my e-reader.

This book focuses on Tally, Aurora's daughter who she dropped on her best friends doorstep as an infant. Once again we never learn Aurora's best friends name instead Tally calls her Aunt Beast, and no one else ever refers to her by her name. As Tally gets older, as with many children whose parents have abandoned them she has questions about her parents that no one is willing to answer, she finds someone who she thinks may be her father and leaves on a quest from New York City to Seattle Washington. The story from there takes on more of the supernatural light that the first two alluded to.
This book was so beautifully written and this whole series is such a nod to Ovid and his famous poem Metamorphosis,the mythology of which, is scattered throughout this final book really tying it all together. Tally may have been a very mature teen but you see her transformation from naive young girl to a more mature young woman by the end of the book. Her experiences not only transform her but also transform some of the other characters as well. This book is poetic, tragic, mystical and beautiful. I couldn't put it down. ( )

I have to say I don’t know the first two books. While reading I didn’t have the feeling I have to know them? I understood the book perfectly, I’d say.

Anyway, on to the review. I like Tally’s character but it took some time. At first I thought of her as cold and rather conceited. At first I thought it would be a story about finding love, little bit family drama, you know the drill. Just your everyday-problems. I was so wrong! The first half more or less was exactly that. But then. Oh yes, but then. I don’t want to spoil so I won’t say anymore about this.

You may wonder why I have ‘only’ given 3 stars out of 5. The reason is I was sometimes not exactly bored but on my way to being bored. Sometimes the writing was a little bit wordy. And I have to be honest, I would have liked to get to know more about Shane. Shane’s character was the one I was interested in the most but he is more or less a side character. Since the book’s told out of Tally’s point of view and she doesn’t know what’s going on with him, the not knowing is okay.

I got the e-copy as an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you. ( )